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The fear of price rise dominated discussions at the meeting between the Centre and State Food Ministers held here on Tuesday, which worked out a six-month plan to check prices by monitoring supplies of pulses, onions, tomato, potato and edible oils. States were also urged to ensure that there is no hoarding and black-marketing of essential commodities.
“We do not want to create unnecessary panic and promote inspector Raj. But we will not allow unreasonable price increases and States will have to take stringent action against hoarders and those indulging in black-marketing,” Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters after the meeting.
A second round of pulses imports is likely soon, with retail prices soaring over the past few months due to crop damage caused by unseasonal rain and hailstorms earlier in the year. A tender to import 5,000 tonnes each of arhar (tur) and urad dal [pulses] have been floated by MMTC Ltd, the canalising agency, while a ban on export of all pulses, except kabuli chana and organic pulses up to 10,000 tonnes, has been instituted.
“States and Union Territories (UTs) have been allowed to impose stock limits up to September 30, under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, while minimum support prices have also been raised to encourage production,” said Paswan.
The minister also sought the removal of inter-State barriers by amending their Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act to ensure onions are available across the country. “The export price of onions has already been hiked to $425 a tonne to ensure domestic availability,” he added.
NFSA rolloutMost States and UTs are likely to roll out the National Food Security Act (NFSA) by December, while a few others such as Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Lakshwadeep are likely to make it operational by September.
As of now, only 11 States and UTs have implemented the Act, which allows 67 per cent of the country’s 1.2 billion people to access cheap rice and wheat. Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir are likely to take substantially longer to establish the welfare programme.
“Most States have agreed to implement the NFSA by December after the latest deadline ends in September,” said Paswan.
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